Some argue it's an outdated religious practice that poses no benefits, and causes an infant, who has no choice in the matter, some extreme pain.

However a new research study conducted by Professor Brian Morris claims that the benefits outnumber the risks 100 to 1, and has proposed that infant circumcision be "regarded as equivalent to childhood vaccination", and offered to parents in the same manner that vaccinations are.

Circumcision rates for U.S. infants were once as high as 83% in the 60's. Nowadays that number has fallen to 77%.

Here's what Professor Brian Morris says is the reason for that drop. He said:

“There seemed to be two major reasons for the fall. One is a result of demographic changes, with the rise in the Hispanic population. Hispanic families tend to be less familiar with the custom, making them less likely to circumcise their baby boys. The other is the current absence of Medicaid coverage for the poor in 18 U.S. states. In those states, circumcision is 24 per cent lower. The new findings now show that infant circumcision should be regarded as equivalent to childhood vaccination and that as such it would be unethical not to routinely offer parents circumcision for their baby boy. Delay puts the child's health at risk and will usually mean it will never happen.”

The strongest case for a circumcision, according to Professor Morris, is the way it protects against urinary tract infections which affects one in three males with an uncircumcised penis. Professor Morris also claims that there isn't an "adverse effect of circumcision on sexual function, sensitivity, or pleasure".

Here's what he said:

"Taken together, the new findings should send a strong message to medical practitioners, professional bodies, educators, policy makers, governments, and insurers to promote this safe, simple procedure, best done in infancy under local anaesthesia and to increase access and third party coverage, especially for poor families, who tend to suffer most from foreskin-related diseases. Infant circumcision has, moreover, been shown to be cost saving."

We definitely are intrigued by this study, but we kind of wish there was even more research on this controversial topic, so we can compare more to their findings!

Although we do admit this study, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, makes a pretty convincing case for its proposal!

61 comments to “Should Circumcision Be Offered Like Vaccines? That's What A New Study Is Saying!”

You have to consider the source. Brian Morris is a circumfetishist. He finds the idea of male circumcision sexually exciting. It's hard to indulge his fetish in his home country of Australia, where the circ rates are very low. He's trying to find an audience among Americans, who are more gullible on this issue. Overhyping the medical "benefits" to cover his real motivation.

This is such a personal decision. I have a friend whose parents left it for him to decide when he reached the age of majority. He did go have it done, but it was his choice, and haven't asked him if he's glad or sorry since.

People may not agree with me and I could care less! I will have my son circumcised because it is my tradition. I know religions outdated and the traditions are outdated but to me it's not! Circumcision is an important part of a boy becoming part of the Jewish community.

Re: HannahCali – I think that's almost diminishing of Judaism to say that. Do you also realize that the way you perform bris is entirely different from how it was traditionally performed in the beginning. A small, small part of the foreskin was cut off, not the entire thing.

I'm uncircumcised and I really haven't been "at risk". I'm not filthy and I'm from a country where almost nobody is circumcised. It's really offensive and upsetting to me that some people keep trying to stigmatize us uncut guys to rationalize this.

Re: Cob – I can't help but feel that Mother nature must have made a foreskin for a reason. I don't have a dog in that, so haven't really looked it all up.
It's personal choice, but babies aren't being given that choice because they're babies.
I would tend to let adults decide to do it or not for themselves and then live with it.
There are men who feel angry that the choice was taken away from them and have even equivocated the practice with female circumcision. Some other men are glad it was done so they won't have to experience a few days of pain and discomfort.
Personal choice.

Prof Pringle says the report quotes a more than 20-fold increase in the risk of penile cancer for uncircumcised men, but the figures didn't agree.

"In fact, the incidence of penile cancer in Israel (almost 100 per cent of males circumcised) is about the same as that in Scandinavia (circumcision the exception), suggesting that it is cleanliness, rather than godliness that is important,"

Let's take into account that Brian Morris is not a pediatrician or a urologist. In fact, he is not even a medical doctor. His views are in sharp contrast to the views of the medical organizations of the non-USAmerican Western World.

It even goes against the recommendations of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the national medical organization of Morris' home country of Australia.

Just because Brian Morris is a professor, he's all knowing on the subject? No. He doesn't know anything about male anatomy. Seriously, millions of years of evolution and the only animal born needing immediate surgical correct is the male human? Give me a break.

For those of you who are misinformed…….there is always cutting in a circumcision. But even before that……a hemostat must be forced into the foreskin to scrape and tear it off of the babies glans and that's BEFORE the foreskin can be amputated! Leave normal healthy babies…….normal and healthy! His body = His decision.

77% of American men may be currently cut, but the rate of NEWBORN circumcisions is now only 50% and going down.

The rate of UTIs in intact boys is currently 2%, only 1% higher than circumcised. Brian Morris is not to be trusted for statistics–he is a known circumfetishist and pedophile and often exaggerates to an extreme degree the "danger" of foreskin.

Brian Morris is a creepy dude. He gets off to the idea of people being circumcised.

Each individual should make their own decision for their OWN body. Men, women, or intersex….genital cutting is not something that should be forced on anyone in childhood. The vast majority of men on this planet are NOT circumcised and they are not dropping like flies.

HannahCali, do you think organizations should stop opposing female circumcision too, then? It's an important tradition that dates back thousands of years to those who practice it. In some communities, a woman is unrecognized, and therefore unable to marry.

So how far should religious/cultural traditions be respected?

And WTF do your religious views have anything to do with Brian Morris' claims?

One publication by a biased source (research Brian Morris) gets a story but the thousands of studies that make more accurate claims in favor of keeping boys intact gets no press. 'Merica is desparate for any level of justification of its barbaric practice.

Professor Morris is a fraud. He gets sexual satisfaction from thinking about and seeing circumcisions. If circumcision prevented any kind of disease, the USA should have by far the lowest rates of those things in the industrialized world. We don't! IN fact, in many cases, we have some of the HIGHEST rates and that includes HIV/AIDS!

In case some of you aren't aware, the USA is the ONLY country in the industrialized world where more men and boys are circumcised. Canada and Australia still have quite a few circumcised men, but the majority of babies born in the last 20 years or so are intact. The UK stopped performing circumcisions on infants 65 years ago. They have seen no reason to go back to it.

The rest of the industrialized world, including continental Europe, Japan, most of South America, etc, have NEVER circumcised their male citizens, (except for religious). Billions of men go clear through life with intact foreskins and are NOT plagued with disease, like Morris and others of his circumcision fetish pals want people to think.

PLEASE, parents, DON'T listen to people who want you to have part of your sons' healthy, normal, functional, genitals cut off! Do like the vast majority of the parents in the world and just treat your babies' genitals like you do every other part of his body!

This research is not backed by medical bodies. Only the usa circumcise. You have more infections in intact men than the uk because people mess with babies. Get rid of your out dated practice. Find some compassion for babies and understanding of human anatomy. Drmomma is a good place to start.

Brain Morris is a proven fetishist of circumcision and has NO medical background nor education and/or training. His claims are utterly bogus, have NO actual scientific or medical grounds nor background. He is proven to know other circumfetishists, and has written words of his fetish in circumcision and circumcising baby boys in a appallingly disgusting and paedophiliac like manner!
NO person of integrity and real sense or intelligence can possibly give his words ANY real credence! Brain Morris is a utterly sham, a proven circumfetishist who advocates for his fetish which is no better than pedophilia so he has free rein to indulge his revolting and abusive fetish! As an Australian i can vouch for the fact that virtually NONE of the scientific or medical field give him him any credence except for those sharing in his fetish or who still have cognitive dissonance themselves regarding circumcision! He has been mocked and jeered at, proven to have no credibility here in Australia so now he seeks for support and followers in America! Do NOT buy into his lies and support his pedophiliac fetish for causing harm and agony to baby boys by cutting and mutilating their genitals!

"Professor" Brian Morris is not a credible source. He is not a physician and has in fact been a member of the Giglal Society, a corcumfetish group where another member was recently arrested for possessing child porn. Did you know there is pornographic videos of circumcision being performed? Brian Morris is a sick, violent man.

His data is absolutely cherry picked. It's a wonder his report was published at all. I would never circumcise my son for something as EASILY treatable as a UTI. So far studies fail to give a justification for parents to have the power to make this decision. I trust my son to decide when he is older.

i made a mistake with my oldest, but left my next two sons intact. i can attest with certainty there is no big what to do. youjust rinse it off. do not retract, and thats its. simple. seriously. dealing with a healing wound in a feces and urine diaper environment is MUCH more work and hurts the child each diaper change for weeks. no thanks.

This "study" doesn't consider or present all of the facts. Anyone considering circumcision should educate themselves before taking such a drastic measure. It has serious implications, risks, and does nothing to improve a boy's physical health, contrary to the study mentioned here. I say, "His body, his choice!"

No. Stop listening to Brian Morris. It's creepy how he thinks all babies should be painfully cut at birth. It should be a man's choice. Most of the world doesn't bother with circumcision because you don't need it. Condoms prevent STDs, not circumcision.

etc etc etc, please stop cutting the genitals of children. I am truly sickened by the idea of having to explain this to anyone.

Oh as an aside, for the benefit of anyone who says "I'm circumcised and sex is just fine thank you very much!" - here's a study from Sudan (where girls have their clitoris and labia cut off and their vagina sewn shut) where adult women profess to have wholesome and rewarding sex lives.

Think on that. People will make do with what they have, doesn't mean it can't be better. There's hope for that though, give all your money to foregen.org and maybe we'll get proper restorative procedures in our lifetime.

You know european and japan are not mutilate and have better health and sexual health.
Stop promotion of sexual mutilation.
Morris is the laughingstock of pediatricians and urologists in the country.
This body this choice !

Circumcision is perverse, it is violent and very painful during and after the assault, it violates the child's/person's right to choose (!), and destroys a significant amount of nature intended sensation and protection. Older males who were cut loose sensitivity and function much more than uncut men. This is a scam by the medical industry which has played on American puritanical, immature and fear-based notions about the human body, maleness and sexuality. More mature cultures like in Europe and most other places on Earth do not practice this sick and twisted assault and mutilation. Don't be tricked into harming innocent boys and young men.

Re: HannahCali – How do you know he want's to be a part of the Jewish community? Let him decide. It's his body. You can cut your own body as much and as traditionally as you want. Circumcisions have gone wrong too many times. It's not a parental decision, it's a human rights issue.

Now hiring sadists!
Looking for obstetricians and gynecologists.
Duties include torturing newborn baby boys, coercing parents into signing circumcision forms, and breaking your oath to do no harm. Who cares about oaths when you've got money?

A third of circumcised men may get a urinary tract infection? Has the doctor never heard of antibiotics? I see no reason to amputate parts of healthy babies because there is a chance they may get an infection that will clear in a few days with medication.

Muslims comprise nearly 25% of the world's population and are the largest group who circumcises boys. Jews are less than 1% of the world's population, but they now offering Brit Shalom, a non-cutting ceremony. Let's be all be as amazingly progressive as this cool Jews!

Re: HannahCali – I completely agree. I got my daughters labia minora removed when they were born, that's my family tradition and it's an important part of being part of our cultural community. She was fine, slept right through it, and she's going to be so much more attractive to boys when she's older, without all that extra skin!

The "study" was completely biased and full of outright false "facts" and "benefits."
No other medical organization agrees, including the CDC, AAP and WHO, and they come the closest. Many countries have all but banned it, some are considering banning it, because it does far more harm than good. Amputation of normal, healthy body parts, especially on a helpless newborn baby should NEVER be done, especially not as a "vaccination."
Even if what Brian Morris states were true, that would STILL not be enough reason to routinely amputate body parts off babies.
BTW, those who advocate for female circumcision have touted very similar "health benefits."

Another desperate attempt to disguise genital cutting habits as some strange form of "preventative medicine". All of the so called benefits can easily be achieved without a scalpel. Generation after generation tries to find new ways to justify their bad habits to themselves and keep others in the dark. Brian Morris and his friends are known for their genital cutting fetish and obsession. He also supports female genital cutting btw. Circumcision is dead but some find it hard to kick the habit, and prefer to remain blind to the harm they cause others.

Brian Morris is a perverted psychopath. About 120 boys DIE in the US each year from genital cutting; that means your baby is MORE LIKELY to DIE from circumcision than ever actually needing one later in life for medical reasons.
Cutting of parts of ones genitals should be a HIGHLY PERSONAL CHOICE of the person who OWNS the genitals, not anyone else. Whole genitals is a human right.

Do we chop off our babies breasts so they'll never get a breast infection as an adult? No way! It's INSANE! Leave the babies genitals ALONE! Put down the knife and back away from the baby.

"new study" lol. Brian Morris is not a physician, but he is a member of the Gilgal Society.
here is an excerpt from a book published by the Gilgal Society:
"He suggested to Mark that if he wanted to, he could have a quiet wank whilst Neil was being circumcised… This was eagerly accepted. … He lay back with his eyes closed and just let the doctor get on."

If circumcision is supposed to protect newborns against urinary tract infections, why would the incidence of urinary tract infections increase at the time immediately following the circumcision of newborn baby boys in Israel?
Dario Prais, Rachel Shoov-Furman and Jacob Amir (September, 2008) "Is ritual circumcision a risk factor for neonatal urinary tract infections?" Archives of Diseases of Children Online
Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Israel

Stupid researchers compare circumcised to "uncircumcised" males. The correct comparison is meddled versus unmeddled. If the intact male's foreskin is left alone, then he will not have problems like circumcised males and intact males whose foreskin was forcefully retracted.

Genital cutting culture exists in many societies and in many different forms. In some places it has evolved into a routine "medical procedure" offered more "safely". Even opinions of medical professionals and researchers reflect and are influenced by this culture. Mostly driven by similar beliefs in health, hygiene and social "benefits". Circumcised men and women find it easier to repeat the cycle and choose genital cutting for their own children.

it's not a study, it's propaganda written by circumfetishist brian morris.
if you don't know what circumfetishist means - it's like it sounds, people get sexual gratification from watching/thinking about circumcision… and since circumcision is almost entirely committed against children, without anesthesia, that would make them sadomasochistic pedophiles.